The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-01-09
WITH ROD AND GUN.

Where do you 60 to hunt and fish,"
asked the reporter Of a stout old gentle
man well known as authority in these
matters. His head was white, but the
fires of youth still burned in his eve, the
rose of health glowed on his cheek, his
step was still lively, and his foI N, as we'll
as his nose, showed a thorough famil-
iarity with good eating and drinking"
Go, said he" anywhere. There is .
crowd of us who do not spend as much
in that direction as the rovers in knee
breeches with elegant guns warranted
harmless who visit us in the winter, but
we get there all the same. We seldom
nay ten dollars for a duck or a deer, but
there is a set of. us who are all disciples
of Leather stocking or Walton and can
earn our meat anywhere in Florida"
There is ready and cheap communica-
ton anywhere now and we CT n vary our
camping grounds almost indefinitely.
The railroads will take US in few hours
to waters where we can enjoy the finest
fishing in the world. On the Palatka
and st. Augustine Road we can reach
find oysters, CLANS and crabs in
unlimited quantities and thousands
of fish of a dozen kinds-all game
and all to be caught without special
skill. On the White Road we can run
in three hours to the banks of the Hail.
fax where sport of all kinds may be se-
cured, and one of the finest sections
of the State inspected. The whole east
coast is almost an unknown fiel0 to the
tourist as yet, and its waters and woods
TEEN with game. AT this season tn
best of oysters and fish may be enjoyed,
there are acres of ducks, and deer and
bear are still often killed. On the T.
& X. w. Railway we can reach the ia
nous fishing and hunting grounds OF
Indian river, and down the Florida
Southern Road we may seek the beauties
of Silver Spring. the rich waters of Tam
pa Bay and the vast hammocks on the
Gulf. We may still find deer on the
banks of the st. Johns and ducks are
now plentiful on the lakes, but the fish
ing cannot be compared at this season to
that to be had on either the AtIantic or
Gulf coast.
There are hundreds of well-stocked
game preserves as vet untouched by the
ak of the settler within easy reach of Pa
latka, and many of these are little known
even to the best of hunters. To secure
the pleasures freely offered by our woods
and waters, millionaires spend thou
sands, Englishmen must keep up lordly
establishments and the President Of the
United States loses himself in distant
mountains and feels repaid by shot at
a deer and few small fish We would
never show. We need instruction in the
art of cheap enjoy ment, there is rest and
good fellowship in these picnics unpur-
chasable in cities. There il peace to the
soul as well as for the body under the
biggest live oak in the lonely heart of
the hammock-around the camp fire
cluster holy influences for him who can
appreciate them and we draw nearer to
the great heart of nature which lies b.
tween us and God.
Did you ever take a sail boat at Day
tona and float down the coast? There is
charm in going Nowhere and taking
your own time about it-there is luxury
| in the loneliness which is unbroken save
by the steady flight of the soaring eagle
| or the alarm cry of the crane. At noon
| the cast-net gives us a dinner of fish
from the sea, oysters are under our boat,
and a stroll in the hammock may give
us venisOn or wild turkey. And we
chain the viewless winds to our gliding
craft and float on with the music of the
surf in our ears. the warm sunshine about
us and the blue sky above. The broad
vans of the eagle are suddenly stllled as
an osprey struggles up from the water
with fish in its talons. The eagle gives
a shrill cry and the osprey darts like an
arrow toward the forest with its booty.
But the eagle is awake now. His wings
almost meet above and below his body as
be cleaves the air in pursuit-he mounts
higher and higher like falcon to get the
vantage ground of his enemy-his talons
| open eagerly and his beak shoots forward
to seize the prey. In despair the hawk
loses his clutch, the eagle darts around
| in a half circle, and then closes his ~ ings
and drops downward like a shot, Selling
the fish within easy shot OF our boat. A
Thousand such episodes come to US a. we
drift down the unknown waters to
goal delightfully."- vague. We wonder
if the eagle finds only toadfish instead
of the juicy mullet he expected-if
he found, like his prototypes in the
rough knights of the middle ages, that
the chase was often more attractive than
the quarry.
Why do we measure pleasures by their
cost? Why is not the outdoor life of
| Florida as fashionable as lordly fishing in